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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 8, No. 9
Publication Date: September 25, 2021
DOI:10.14738/assrj.89.10937. Al-Alawi, A. S. K., & Matriano, M. T. (2021). The Strategic Management Process for Innovation Activities of HAYA Water, Oman.
Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 8(9). 441-450.
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
The Strategic Management Process for Innovation Activities of
HAYA Water, Oman
Adil Said Khalfan Al-Alawi
MBA, Center for Post-Graduate Studies
MiddleEast College, Muscat, Oman
Dr. Maria Teresa Matriano
Assistant Professor, Center for Post-Graduate Studies
MiddleEast College, Muscat, Oman
ABSTRACT
The main objective of this research is to investigate and explore the
entrepreneurship and innovation in the Sultanate of Oman, taking the example of
selected organisation that operates its business in the country, Haya Water, and
explore the different innovation strategies which are essential for business growth
and sustainability. The research study is based on the information gathered from
previously published journals for the literature review and information through
direct interview with employees in the company for the innovation strategy that is
implemented in the company. The strategic management process for innovation
activities that are driven by certain internal and external forces of Haya Water
Oman will be explored as well in this research study. This will discuss the forces
that initiate the innovation and entrepreneurship in this organisation, with the key
factors for successful creation and implementation of innovation process within the
organisation. It will also cover some discussions on the limitation that delay the
progress and development of innovation with recommended mitigation actions to
overcome these challenges.
Keywords: entrepreneurship and innovation, innovation, strategic management process,
forces that initiate innovation, factors for successful innovation process
INTRODUCTION
Haya Water is the brand name of Oman Wastewater Services Company (OWSC), which is a
member of the Nama Group (Nama Holding), the leading reference in utility services excellence
in the Sultanate of Oman. The company was established in December 2004 to build, own and
operate a world class waste water system in the Muscat Governorate. In 2011, the Company
has expanded its operation to cover all of Oman except Salalah which has already private
company by taking over all waste water facilities from the Ministry of regional municipalities
with a concession agreement with the Government of the Sultanate of Oman (taking Water
Reuse Haya Across Oman 2021).
Khaliq et al. (2016) has stated that, the collection of wastewater system and treatment
technology that has been adopted by the company, has secured the reuse of the wastewater for
other industrial purposes such as agriculture, parks, golf courses and cooling systems. In
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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ) Vol. 8, Issue 9, September-2021
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
addition, the company has produced fertilizer through the composting factory in Al Amerat
area, by recycling the sludge that generates from the treatment of wastewater and use it for
agricultural activities. The use of advanced technology in the sewer treatment plants and the
composting unit that owned by Haya Water, have resulted in high quality products that meets
the provincial environmental standards.
Being a utility services supply company, Haya water has been extensively interacting with
residences across the country and provide the best services to the community. The company’s
mission is to serve the society by converting the wastewater into environmental friendly
products, and establish a strategy that enhance the innovativeness and creativity within the
workplace that encourages all employees and stakeholders to work in a collaborative manner
to achieve the company’s goals and objectives.
DEGREE OF INNOVATIVENESS
Through the Taqdeer scheme that has been initiated in Haya water, all employees are
encouraged to come up with innovated and creative ideas, that lead to better performance, cost
reduction, customer satisfaction, and elimination or introduction of processes that enhances
the performance, and implement these through their work. Committee has been setup to have
a monthly review of the innovations and creativity of the employees on their tasks and
accordingly, they will be awarded a recognition allowance.
According to Ruvio et al. (2013), organization cannot have a dominate position in the market
with a competitive advantage without having a sufficient innovation capability. The successful
use of resources, knowledge, technology, decision-making process, and the methods of
transferring the new ideas into innovated values represent the company’s degree of
innovativeness. The level of innovativeness in an organization can be measured according to
different dimensions as described by Ruvio et al. (2013):
• Number of innovations: It could be attributed to the number of innovations adopted
by the organization, which lead to the creation of new products or services that
distinguish the company’s business from other competitors.
• Creativity: the organization’s focus in generating new idea is the creativity of
individuals working in a team within the organization, the successful transformation
and implementation of these new ideas into new product, services, or processes, is the
innovativeness capability of the organization.
• Innovation culture: Openness to new idea addressees the organizational members
willingness to adopt innovations, the organization’s culture toward the recognition of
the need of new innovated ideas encourages individuals to be creative in their work
tasks, hence it represent the level of organizational innovativeness.
• Future Vision: Companies that have the orientation of exploring the new opportunities
using their past experience and new knowledge that enhanced their competitive
advantage, have the potentials of being innovative organizations.
• Pro-activeness: Pro-activeness refers to the ability of organization in hunt for business
opportunities. Emphasis on initiating activities and being a pro-active is one of the
stages of innovated organization process. Managers who are pro-active in highlighting
the need for changes to accommodate the company’s objectives and goals, are more
likely to drive the innovativeness behavior of the organization.
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Al-Alawi, A. S. K., & Matriano, M. T. (2021). The Strategic Management Process for Innovation Activities of HAYA Water, Oman. Advances in Social
Sciences Research Journal, 8(9). 441-450.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.89.10937
• Research and Development: the level of innovativeness of any organization can be
measured as well by the amount of researches conducted to promote the business and
the implementations of the outcome.
With the above stated dimensions that forms the degree of innovativeness of an organization,
Haya Water being a utility service provider with limited products, is considered to have an
incremental innovation process that have a continues change to the procedures, and quality of
services to attain the best customer satisfaction and operation efficiency. The company’s
leadership behavior encourages all members to be creative and initiate innovative ideas that
enhances the company’s business success. In addition, Haya Water has contributed in many
research studies in association with different local and international institutions that deals with
the re-use of wastewater and the best practices in the world.
IN-COUNTRY VALUE ADDITION (ICV)
Al Ruqaishi (2016) has defined the In-Country Value as the total spent in-country by companies
whether they are local or international having contracts in Oman, the (ICV) represent the
amount spent by these companies in developing the local business, contribute in the
employment and training of local people, and stimulate a productivity in the national economy.
The aim of the ICV is to explore the local capabilities and resources that can be used to
accelerate the national economy, and develop local communities.
Oman (ICV) Policy
The ICV in Oman was initially introduced in 2013 by the Omani government for the Oil and Gas
sector then gradually was developed to cover all industrial sectors, to enhance the socio- economic development of the country and utilizing the local resources to trigger the economic
growth and sustainable development, which includes employment of Omanis and creating jobs,
using local investment for value-added opportunities, and development of local manufacturing
facilities for goods to enhance domestic productivity (Shezawi and Khan 2018). In return, this
is intended to encourage individuals to start their business with the support of this scheme and
generates more entrepreneurs and new small and medium enterprises.
Oman (ICV) has four pillars that the government is focusing in, to be part of the economy’s
development programme, as well in the community. These pillars are the capital investment,
local development, procurements of goods, and human resource, the main objectives is to
maximize the local procurements of goods, increase the local investments on projects, identify
and train local talented people, retain investment locally in order to enhance the economic
growth and community development.
Haya Water has adopted strategy that contributes to the ICV scheme, by creating a Project
Management office (PMO) that designs and implement the best approaches to achieve
maximum benefits to the local vendors, suppliers, sub-contractors, and initiation of new
entrepreneurs and SME’s that will have the priority in awarding jobs from the company. Vendor
registration platform that enables local entrepreneurs to benefit from the training programmes
established by the company in the strategic business management, skill development and
financial control knowledge.